Home Weddings

April 8, 2020

I’ve always had a love and soft spot for a home wedding.

As Covid-19 continues to cloud our skies with uncertainty about “re-entering normal” life and what gatherings will look like, or even be allowed, in the coming months I have a feeling that we’re going to see more and more private home events and weddings.

There are a lot of incredible positives to hosting an event at home! There’s a feeling of unique intimacy that few venues can replicate when you’re opening up your doors to friends and family. There’s also an incredible amount of flexibility and control that you can have over the environment.

That said, with greater flexibility often comes more responsibility and more choices so my first recommendation is to hire a wedding planner! Portland has some incredible planners and, honestly, any money you spend on them you’re likely to save by not making mistakes and hiring the highest value vendors. Similarly I recommend using a fully licensed caterer. Even for a fairly small event having an incredible caterer onsite with the correct insurance, licenses and staff will make your life so much easier. The third big component would be to have a rental company out for an onsite visit of the property early in the planning process. They’ll be able to help you with layout, rain plans, and foreseeing a ton of logistical issues whether that’s parking, power, lighting, handicap accessibility or a myriad of other items they’re trained to consider. I LOVE when clients also have us out for the rental walk through as it’s really helpful for logistics but even more so because it’s so creatively inspiring!

Once you have a team of vendors in place the fun can really start! I think an important thing to remember is you can make this event feel any way you want. Yes, a home wedding can be simple and sweet but it can also be an incredibly elegant, black tie event. It’s really up to you! Things I love to incorporate in home weddings include tons of candles (since fire marshal rules are a little more lax), incorporating the tones of your home and garden, and most of all playing with installation ideas that are totally unique to your space. It’s also a wonderful inspiration to incorporate landscaping and design concepts into your home that you’ve always considered but have never quite gotten around to do!

Last but certainly not least, even with smaller at home events, social distancing is of the utmost importance. Phase 1 for Oregon (predicted to begin in Portland in early June) allows events up to 25 people and phase 2 is likely to increase that number to 100. However, social distancing is still required by law. This means staying 6 ft apart, wearing face masks and having sanitation stations are still strongly advised. Most likely this means tables will seat family members together with the next table hosting a separate family. It’s a tricky situation but one where I do believe with some patience and a lot of flexibility will still allow for these smaller events to happen.

These photos are from private home weddings we’ve been lucky enough to be a part of over the years! These were all taken pre-covid so keep that in mind. Please contact us to share your ideas on how we may be able to help you!

Creative Collaboraters

So many talented people’s work is featured in these images that it’s tricky to name them all! Here’s a few of the highlights though and if I’ve missed you please let me know!